Fire that Fuels Offerings During the Coronavirus Crisis

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Rhiza Collective is offering a set of strategic interventions for frontline communities, activists, and movement leaders through our Fire that Fuels program. These offerings, which are informed by our work globally in crisis situations, include:

1. Webinars on best practices in regenerative organizing

2. Helping communities establish and run Regeneration Circles, small virtual support spaces that organizers and community members can use to come together to offer emotional support to one another and a dedicated space for problem solving and making decisions at this moment of crisis. We can provide exercises, templates, and guidelines as well as ongoing technical assistance. 

3. Training for community leaders and grassroots member leaders who are already resource people in their communities on emotional crisis management in times of crisis, so they can serve as a source of support and resources for other members to turn to.

4. Support for organization leaders learning how to support their member leaders in their role providing emotional support to other members.

The Fire that Fuels program of Rhiza Collective offers support to system change groups interested in shifting towards more regenerative ways of organizing, in moments of crisis and beyond. We focus on:

• Placing personal experiences of trauma within the context of systemic injustices;

• Addressing individual and collective impacts of trauma and stress; 

• Exploring how a commitment to healing can fuel more sustainable and visionary organizing and strategizing amid crisis; and 

• Implementing replicable practices and systems that strengthen collective care and create sturdier foundations for organizing and activism.

This program helps organizers counter the stressful and emotionally harmful impacts of justice work, helping our movements become more resilient to the trauma we face in our lives and work.

The communities we have partnership with through the Fire that Fuels program include domestic workers and immigrant day laborers in the U.S., human rights workers in regions across the world, LGBTQI activists in East Africa, and feminist activists in India. In each partnership, we have jointly developed regenerative practices tailored to the political and cultural context and community we are working with, and we now have a set of diverse tools, resources, and best practices we can adapt and share.